[TxMt] Re: Problem with MultiMarkdown PDF generation

[Fletcher T. Penney]

The problem is that the support in the default Markdown bundle for 
MultiMarkdown sucks, to say the least.  Don't get me wrong - I 
appreciate the effort that went into creating a Markdown bundle, and I 
was glad to see that MMD was even mentioned.  But I could never get it 
to work.  In fact, the original Markdown bundle includes a very outdated 
copy of MMD.

The command you're referring to in TextMate that uses htmldoc should 
never have been labeled as a MultiMarkdown feature - it's really a 
feature that should be compatible with generic Markdown as far as I'm 
concerned.

MultiMarkdown, as I have released it, has always relied on LaTeX for 
generating PDF's.  That's not to say that there aren't other methods of 
converting an HTML document (that happened to be generated by MMD) into 
a PDF.  But they have nothing to do with MMD per se.

If htmldoc serves your needs, then by all means use it.  If you find 
that the quality and typography of the output leaves something to be 
desired, then you might want to explore the option of using MMD to 
generate LaTeX, and then run pdflatex (or xelatex) to create a PDF of 
much higher quality.

So, yes - you are correct that the bundle you are using does make it 
appear that MMD relies on htmldoc, but this is not the case.


F-



On 8/12/09 6:04 PM, David Watson wrote:
>
> On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 5:22 PM, Fletcher T. Penney
> <fletcher at fletcherpenney.net <mailto:fletcher at fletcherpenney.net>> wrote:
>
>     As the author of MultiMarkdown, and having generated countless PDF's
>     from plain text and HTML, and not having the faintest clue what
>     HTMLDOC is, I can guarantee you that htmldoc _is not_ a requirement
>     for PDF generation when using Multimarkdown.
>
>     The PDF commands in TextMate that are associated with MMD do not
>     require htmldoc.
>
>
> Well, I'm confused, because there's clearly a disconnect between the
> reality that you're describing and the reality that exists in the
> markdown bundle on my machine:
>
> david-watsons-macbook-pro:Markdown.tmbundle david$ grep htmldoc * -ir
> Commands/.svn/text-base/↓↓ Convert Document:Selection to
> PDF.plist.svn-base:# convert to PDF with htmldoc
> Commands/.svn/text-base/↓↓ Convert Document:Selection to
> PDF.plist.svn-base:require_cmd htmldoc
> Commands/.svn/text-base/↓↓ Convert Document:Selection to
> PDF.plist.svn-base:htmldoc -f "$DST.pdf" --header "" --footer ""
> --webpage "$DST.html"
> Commands/↓↓ Convert Document:Selection to PDF.plist:# convert to PDF
> with htmldoc
> Commands/↓↓ Convert Document:Selection to PDF.plist:require_cmd htmldoc
> Commands/↓↓ Convert Document:Selection to PDF.plist:htmldoc -f
> "$DST.pdf" --header "" --footer "" --webpage "$DST.html"
>
> Is MMD part of the markdown bundle? Why do these commands invoke
> htmldoc? I certainly don't believe that I introduced the dependency on
> htmldoc. I used textmate at several workplaces years ago and recall
> having a very similar discussion about this then.
>
> Thanks,
> David
>
>
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>
>
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-- 
Fletcher T. Penney
fletcher at fletcherpenney.net

A beautiful woman moved in next door. So I went over and returned
a cup of sugar. "You didn't borrow this." "I will."
	- Steven Wright

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